No Explosives Found On Bus Involved In Standoff

Police Chief Says Incident Was Not Related To Terrorism

No explosives were found in a bus that was the center of a nine-hour standoff in Portsmouth, police said.

The standoff on the Greyhound bus began when a passenger believed they overheard something about a bomb.

The Associated Press quoted an anonymous person close to the investigation as saying that the passenger thought a non-English-speaking passenger mention a bomb. The source said the passenger who didn't speak English was a foreign national who became too frightened to get off the bus once the standoff began.

The man, wearing camouflage pants and no shirt, eventually walked out of the bus at 8:36 p.m. with his hands raised over his head. He stood at the door before lying on the ground for a few minutes.

The man then stood up and went to the front of the bus, where he got back on the ground. Officers approached him with guns drawn to take him into custody.

"The man that has been on the bus is off the bus. He is in custody," said Capt. Mike Schwartz. "Nobody was injured."

Portsmouth Police Chief David Ferland said investigators would not have specific information to release on the man or the incident until noon Friday. But he said there was no reason to believe the incident was connected to terrorism.

"We do not believe this to be a terrorist-related event," Ferland said. "We are considering this to be a localized event only."

U.S. Attorney John Kacavas confirmed the passenger was from Africa.

Police had formed a wide perimeter around the Greyhound bus since it pulled over on Hanover Street in Portsmouth at about 11:15 a.m. A passenger at that time reported something suspicious to the driver, who pulled the bus over, got off and called police.

The Greyhound bus had just made a scheduled stop in Portsmouth as it was traveling from Bangor, Maine, to New York.

Nearby buildings were evacuated and streets were shut down after police were called. The 17 passengers remained on the bus for two hours, but police did not call it a hostage situation.

"I don't know why they are not leaving the bus," Schwartz said. "I don't know why they are remaining at this point."

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Paul Mowatt said his fiancee was on the bus. He said she called him from her cell phone after the bus had stopped and didn't realize what was happening at first.

"She's like, 'They're evacuating the building and the parking garages,' then she's like, 'They're pointing guns at us,'" Mowatt said.

Mowatt and his fiancee returned to the scene in time to see the man apprehended.

Police said they were communicating with the passengers by cell phone, and at about 1:30 p.m., the passengers got off the bus, one by one, raising their hands and walking down the street, where they were met by police officers.

Viewer video from Justin Herman

But one passenger remained on board. Police did not call the man a suspect, but they said they had been negotiating with him for hours. No police officers or other law enforcement personnel went on the bus.

Three robots were also positioned near the bus. One of the robots was being used to try to get a look inside the vehicle, while another could test the air for explosives.

Just before the man emerged from the bus, the robot at the door withdrew.

With the exception of one passenger who was taken to a hospital for a medical condition, all others were taken to the Portsmouth Police Department.

The federal Department of Homeland Security said that it was monitoring the situation.

"DHS is aware and monitoring the situation," the department said. "We will assist our federal, sate and local law enforcement partners as requested."

A SWAT team was at the scene, and the FAA instituted a 3-mile no-fly zone around the area, but that was lifted after the passengers began coming off the bus.

However, the no-fly zone was reinstated by about 3:50 p.m., forcing news choppers that had been covering the story out of the air.

The state explosives disposal unit and FBI were also at the scene. Two members of the state attorney general's office also arrived at the scene Thursday afternoon.

Gov. John Lynch went to the Emergency Operations Center in Concord to monitor the situation. After the man surrendered, he issued a statement praising the "patience, care and professionalism" of law enforcement in bringing the situation to a peaceful end.

A nearby garage that was used as a staging area remained closed into the evening but was re-opened by Friday morning.

The incident comes days after an alleged attempted terrorist attack in Times Square in New York. A vehicle was found containing explosive materials, and a man has been arrested in connection with that incident.